Columns

Many new entrepreneurs are confident in the product or service they want to bring to the market, and they are confident they have the industry expertise and customer focus it takes to drive their business idea. Yet, navigating the process of starting a business gives them pause.

The Kentucky General Assembly crossed another mile marker this week by reaching the deadline for the introduction of new bills in the state Senate. Slightly less than 1,000 bills were filed — 309 Senate bills and 632 House bills — and probably less than 100 of them will pass. March 3 was the last day to file bills in the Senate. We will begin hearing House bills in our Senate committees in the coming weeks. As we enter the homestretch of the 2016 session, some tough decisions will need to be made, along with some compromises.

By Sister Mary Louise Edwards, OP
Director of Mission Education
St. Catharine College

If you live in Washington County there is a good chance that your family has had some connection with the Dominican Sisters of Peace at St. Catharine. After all, the family names of some of our founding sisters: Carrico, Hill, Boone, Sansbury and Johnson are still common in these parts.

I appreciate Senator Higdon’s column last week regarding Kentucky Senate Bill 1, and the impact this bill will have on education in our community.
One of the lesser known aspects of Senate Bill 1 affects the visual and performing arts courses offered in this county and across the state.

As the Senate eagerly awaits a budget proposal from the House of Representatives, we are busy passing bills both out of committee and out of the Senate to send to our House colleagues during the eighth week of the 2016 Kentucky General Assembly.

When it comes to the public’s safety and well being, consumer protection may not always grab the headlines, but that doesn’t diminish its importance.
It was the key theme last week in the Kentucky House, which moved forward not one but four bills touching on this issue.

On a scale from one to 10, what would you rate me?
WAIT… STOP!
Please don’t answer that question.
It’s a ridiculous question.
I’m more than a number.
And, for anyone to label me or anyone else with a specific number based on appearance is disgusting and incredibly disturbing.

The seventh week of the 2016 General Assembly marked the halfway point of the 60-day session. It saw the passage of an education measure to reevaluate, and possibly change, Kentucky’s academic standards in classrooms and assessments of what public school students should know.
Senate Bill (SB) 1, a designation reserved for what’s considered the Senate President’s top priority of a session, would reexamine Common Core standards that Kentucky led the nation in adopting six years ago.